Owner of Harlem Duke Social Club in Prichard recalls its heyday as a Rhythm & Blues haven

View full sizeEthel Couch holds a picture of her late husband, Tom Couch. Together,
they owned the famous Harlem Duke Social Club in Prichard. At her home
today, Ethel Couch keeps a photograph of herself and her husband with
blues legend B.B. King. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)

MOBILE, Alabama -- As fire destroyed the building where the Harlem Duke Social Club once thrived on St. Stephens Road — U.S. 45, in Prichard — the flames took the remnants of an era gone by.

Starting in the 1950s, the Harlem Duke rang with the music of great musicians, including B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Etta James, all traveling what Theodore Arthur Jr. refers to as "the chitlin' circuit," the clubs, in the segregated South, "where black artists would tour because they weren't allowed to play the white clubs."

Staying in Prichard's nearby Harlem Hotel, recalls Arthur, and dining at neighborhood eateries like Eddies, the musicians found a vibrant scene at the Harlem Duke.

Its owner, Tom Couch, "was one of the premiere promoters in Mobile," said Arthur, who played saxophone there as a teen with his band, the Impalas, before going on to perform with musicians around the world.

Back in the 1950s, when "it was two different worlds, black and white," as Arthur puts it, the Harlem Duke was the destination for many a performer, some destined for greatness.

In 1958, when Arthur was 15 years old, he says he saw Ray Charles there.

A year later, he remembers watching James Brown, who had "more folks there than had ever been."

Arthur recalls how the highway was jammed with cars on a Saturday night — "it became a parking lot" — people coming in their finest clothes ready to party, to eat, drink and dance.

"They were swinging out," he said, "and slow dancing."

What time did it open?

"When did it ever close?" asks Ethel Couch, laughing.

View full sizeEthel Couch, 88, was co-owner with husband Tom Couch of the Harlem Duke Social Club that burned down couple weeks ago. She has great memories of the club including a picture of her husband with B.B. King at their house. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)

Ethel Couch, 88, co-owned the club with her late husband.

At her home a few miles from the Harlem Duke, which burned on April 25, she remembers how tables were pushed up around the dance floor.

"We'd seat 400 to 500," she says. Across the sawdust floor, couples did the Lindy hop and jitterbug.

Patrons could eat at the Harlem Duke, too.

Wiler Stanfield, 70, the Couches' daughter, remembers being in the kitchen, cutting up lemons and celery, helping prepare the barbecue.

She also remembers, as a young teen — still at an age where her father was protective of her — looking through the window at the musicians.

When she got older, she often ended up at the club with friends, whatever their social occasion.

Musicians enchanted her, surely.

She married Hubert "Hawk" Stanfield, who played saxophone with Mobile's Excelsior Band for over 50 years.

Hubert Stanfield passed away last year.

Ethel Couch went to the club often, to take inventory or enjoy the music and visit with friends.

The couple had other enterprises, too.

Next to the club was their Harlem Cab Company.

Nearby was Couch Grocery.

And they counted, among their friends, the musicians they had welcomed over the years.

At her home today, Ethel Couch keeps a photograph of herself and her husband with B.B. King.

In later years, she says, they traveled to Los Angeles to visit the great blues musician, by then a superstar.

An early photo of the couple shows Tom Couch in a hat, a cigar plugged in his mouth, Ethel Couch next to him like a young actress.

Tom Couch retired and leased out the club in 1987, long after entertainment venues were open to people of any race. He died in 1994.

At Tom Couch's funeral in Mobile, at the Prayer Tabernacle, Early Church of Jesus Christ, Hubert Stanfield played an instrumental solo, "I Did It My Way."